Washington Subdivision

Junction in Orange, Virginia between the Washington Subdivision (left) and the Norfolk Southern Railway's Washington District (right).

The Washington Subdivision is a railroad line leased and operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad in the U.S. state of Virginia.

The line runs from Orange southwest to Charlottesville,^[1] and was a CSX Transportation line until 2004. At Charlottesville, the North Mountain Subdivision continues west; the Piedmont Subdivision splits to the east at Gordonsville. Amtrak's Cardinal operates over the entire line.

History

The part from Charlottesville to Gordonsville was part of the 19th century Virginia Central Railroad. The rest, from Gordonsville northeast to Orange, was built as the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) in the 1850s. A new alignment of the O&A was later built between Orange and Alexandria, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O; the Virginia Central's successor) leased the Gordonsville-Orange stretch.

Through mergers, the O&A became part of the Norfolk Southern Railway and the C&O became part of CSX Transportation. CSX had trackage rights over the Norfolk Southern Railway's Washington District (former O&A) from Orange to Alexandria until those rights were terminated on March 20, 1994.^[2] In 2004, the Buckingham Branch Railroad leased the Charlottesville-Gordonsville portion from CSX and subleased the Gordonsville-Orange piece, still owned by Norfolk Southern.^[3]

References

1. CSX Timetables: Washington Subdivision
2. Bull Sheet Monthly News, April 1994
3. Surface Transportation Board, Docket FD_34495_0, Buckingham Branch Railroad Company--lease--CSX Transportation, Inc., November 5, 2004